Estimation of airship states and model uncertainties using nonlinear estimators

This Airships are lighter than air vehicles and due to their growing number of applications, they are becoming attractive for the research community. Most of the applications require an airship autonomous flight controller which needs an accurate model and state information. Usually, airship states are affected by noise and states information can be lost in the case of sensor's faults, while airship model is affected by model inaccuracies and model uncertainties. This paper presents the application of nonlinear and Bayesian estimators for estimating the states and model uncertainties of neutrally buoyant airship. It is considered that minimum sensor measurements are available, and data is corrupted with process and measurement noise. A novel lumped model uncertainty estimation approach is formulated where airship model is augmented with six extra state variables capturing the model uncertainty of the airship. The designed estimator estimates the airship model uncertainty along with its states. Nonlinear estimators, Extended Kalman Filter and Unscented Kalman Filter are designed for estimating airship attitude, linear velocities, angular velocities and model uncertainties. While Particle filter is designed for the estimation of airship attitude, linear velocities and angular velocities. Simulations have been performed using nonlinear 6-DOF simulation model of experimental airship for assessing the estimator performances. 1− uncertainty bound and error analysis have been performed for the validation. A comparative study of the estimator's performances is also carried out

Investigation of vibration’s effect on driver in optimal motion cueing algorithm

The increased sensation error between the surroundings and the driver is a major problem in driving simulators, resulting in unrealistic motion cues. Intelligent control schemes have to be developed to provide realistic motion cues to the driver. The driver’s body model incorporates the effects of vibrations on the driver’s health, comfort, perception, and motion sickness, and most of the current research on motion cueing has not considered these factors. This article proposes a novel optimal motion cueing algorithm that utilizes the driver’s body model in conjunction with the driver’s perception model to minimize the sensation error. Moreover, this article employs H1 control in place of the linear quadratic regulator to optimize the quadratic cost function of sensation error. As compared to state of the art, we achieve decreased sensation error in terms of small root-mean-square difference (70%, 61%, and 84% decrease in case of longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and yaw velocity, respectively) and improved coefficient of cross-correlation (3% and 1% increase in case of longitudinal and lateral acceleration, respectively)

Unscented Kalman filter for airship model uncertainties and wind disturbance estimation

An airship is lighter than an air vehicle with enormous potential in applications such as communication, aerial inspection, border surveillance, and precision agriculture. An airship model is made up of dynamic, aerodynamic, aerostatic, and propulsive forces. However, the computation of aerodynamic forces remained a challenge. In addition to aerodynamic model deficiencies, airship mass matrix suffers from parameter variations. Moreover, due to the lighter-than-air nature, it is also susceptible to wind disturbances. These modeling issues are the key challenges in developing an efficient autonomous flight controller for an airship. This article proposes a unified estimation method for airship states, model uncertainties, and wind disturbance estimation using Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). The proposed method is based on a lumped model uncertainty vector that unifies model uncertainties and wind disturbances in a single vector. The airship model is extended by incorporating six auxiliary state variables into the lumped model uncertainty vector. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated using a nonlinear simulation model of a custom-developed UETT airship and is validated by conducting a kind of error analysis. For comparative studies, EKF estimator is also developed. The results show the performance superiority of the proposed estimator over EKF; however, the proposed estimator is a bit expensive on computational grounds. However, as per the requirements of the current application, the proposed estimator can be a preferred choice

A Fractional Order Controller for Sensorless Speed Control of an Induction Motor

Agriculture activities are completely dependent upon energy production worldwide. This research presents sensorless speed control of a three-phase induction motor aided with an extended Kalman filter (EKF). Although a proportional integral (PI) controller can ensure tracking of the rotor speed, a considerable magnitude of ripples is present in the torque generated by a motor. Adding a simple derivative to have a proportional integral derivative (PID) action can cause a further increase in ripple magnitude, as it allows the addition of high-frequency noise in the system. Therefore, a fractional-order-based PID control is presented. The proposed control scheme is applied in a closed loop with the system, and simulation results are compared with the PID controller. It is evident from the results that the fractional order control not only ensures 20 times faster tracking, but ripple magnitude in torque was also reduced by a factor of 50% compared to that while using PID and ensures the effectiveness of the proposed strategy